Spurs to begin NBA title defense vs. Mavs at ATT Center on Oct. 28

The Spurs will begin defense of their 2014 NBA championship with an Oct. 28 game at AT&T Center against the Dallas Mavericks that will be preceded by presentation of championship rings to those players returning from the roster that demolished the Miami Heat in the 2014 NBA Finals.

The opening night “ring game,” with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver expected to be on hand to pass out the jewelry, is one of the highlights of the 82-game Spurs schedule released Wednesday by the NBA.

ABC-TV will feature the Spurs in in a Christmas Day Western Conference Finals rematch against the Oklahoma City Thunder and reigning NBA MVP Kevin Durant. It will be one of 18 nationally televised games for the 2014 NBA champs: Two on ABC, nine on ESPN and seven on TNT.

This season’s rodeo road trip will begin on Feb. 8 and span nine games over three weeks, with a week-long All-Star break splitting it into segments of three games and six games. For the first time ever, the all-Star break has been extended to a full week, with the Spurs getting eight days without a game.

This season’s All-Star Weekend is scheduled for Feb. 12-15 in New York City.

Another by-product of extending the All-Star break to a full week: More sets of back-to-back games for all teams, the Spurs included. The Spurs this season will play 21 back-to-back sets. Last season they had only 19.

The final regular season game of the Spurs season is to be played against the Hornets on April 15 in New Orleans.

Other details/key dates in the latest schedule, which was released on Wednesday:

* The Spurs travel to face LeBron James and presumably Kevin Love in Cleveland on Nov. 19, followed by a home game against the Cavaliers on March 12.

* The Spurs won’t face the Thunder for the first time until that Christmas date, followed by another home meeting on March 25 before travelling to Oklahoma City on April 7.

* The Spurs will also face Golden State just three times. Among the other top teams in the West, they play the Clippers and all their division rivals four times.

* Chicago, poised to challenge for the East crown with a healthy Derrick Rose and newly-signed Pau Gasol, will host the Spurs on Jan. 22 before traveling to San Antonio on March 8.